Round Three of the 2025 Challenge of the Americas was completed on Saturday at the new K1 Circuit in Winchester, California. The home for southern California based teams and drivers saw a perfect day of weather for racing with the six categories completing the third round of this year’s championship. Half of the categories were sweeps, including 100cc Senior victor Keagan Kaminski.

The rain session for Pre-Qualifying on Friday put the two qualifying groups for the 43 drivers in the Forward Direction Motorsports 100cc Senior class as a big mix with only 10 drivers hitting the wet track in the session, splitting up the rest randomly into their groups. Fast drivers were put in both B and A groups. Keagan Kaminski (FW / GFC) came off the Group B session with the provisional pole – a 1:05.282 lap – which held on through Group A. Kaminski went on to hold off Johnie Stamps (FW / GFC) and Stephen Eisert (SpeedSense / Exprit) in the Prefinal to retain the pole position for the Final. A great opening circuit allowed he and Nico Sarphati (GFC Karting) to drive away from the rest of the field as they battled for position behind them. Kaminski put in consistent lap times over the 18-lap main event, pulling away to a five-second advantage to complete the sweep and earn his first victory of the series in 2025. Sarphati would be caught late in the race by a group of four, as they fought for the runner-up spot to the checkered flag. Stamps was able to win that battle with Sarphati crossing the line in third. Chase Hand (GFC Karting) clinched fourth in the final corner as Max Saga (KartNick / Tony Kart) was fifth. Two track limit offenses against Saga dropped him down to ninth, putting Archer Eversman (FDM / Pantano) into the fifth spot.

Michael Avansino (RWR / CRG) grabbed his third sweep of the season in the Swedetech Racing Engines Shifter Senior division. Avansino set fast time in qualifying with a 59.492 lap and led every lap of the Prefinal. The Final saw Bryce Stevens (GFC Karting) pressure early, but was not able to keep up with the pace of Avansino. At the line, Avansino took his third victory of the season by just over one second ahead of Stevens. Anthony Freese (WCM / Birelart) drove to third with Evan Concepicion (Scuderia Littel / GFC) up to fourth after TJ Madonna (GFC Karting) and Nolan Gagnon (Nash / Italkart) retired early.

Neliton Race Concepts Shifter Masters was the Joe Ruch show. Ruch (Shifterz / Maranello) swept the action on the day, beginning with a fast time of 1:00.997 in qualifying. Ruch led wire-to-wire in the Prefinal, and repeating the feat in the Final to win by over 11 seconds. Michael Guasch (Shifterz / Maranello) was able to work past Michael Faker (GFC Karting) toward the end of the race to secure the second spot. Chris Muecke (Italcorse Americas) was fourth with Bryan Devert (TKC / Sodi Kart) in fifth.

It was a battle of former champions in the Ruthless Karting 100cc Masters class. Two-time Tucson winner Scott Falcone (Precision Works / Pantano) came out of qualifying with the fast time of 1:07.024. He held on through the Prefinal with former series champion Paul Bonilla (PGR / LN Racing Kart) up to second. Falcone led the first four laps of the main event before Christopher Mann (Ruthless / Exprit) shook things up by taking over the top spot. Bonilla took advantage of that opportunity, going from third to first the following lap. Falcone fell back to third but eventually got up to second. Bonilla kept a solid pace through the remainder of the Final to claim his first win of the season. Falcone settled for second with Matthew Meech (Precision Works / Tony Kart) crossing the line in third ahead of Mann. Erik Jackson (Vemme Kart) was solo in fifth.

The Nash Motorsportz 100cc Junior class welcomed its first two-time winner on the season. Round One winner Erik Doan (Nash / EOS) came out of qualifying with the fastest time of the session, a 1:05.532 lap to lead the field to the green flag in the Prefinal. A busy 12-lap race saw Matthew Cagle (FW / GFC) come up from 10th on the grid to reach the top spot by the checkered flag. It was Jackson Gibson (NRC / Gillard) who controlled the Final. Cagle fell back to third over the opening lap after Wes Witt (GFC Karting) led for two laps, all while Doan spun in the turn 2-3 section, dropping him all the way down to 25th. Gibson took control on lap four and paced lead trio until lap 16 when Luca Popescu (GFC Karting) grabbed the top spot. Gibson retook the position back and hold on to the checkered flag. Witt and Daniel Ramirez (Team KartNick / Tony Kart) were able to get past Popescu before the line as Cagle ended up fifth. Doan drove up to ninth by the end of the 18 laps.

The Karting Collective 60cc Cadet winner was decided after the checkered flag. Lucas Tarango (Ruthless / Nitro Kart) led the 18 kart field in qualifying with a 1:11.159 lap time. The Prefinal was like watching a NASCAR race at Talladega with the large draft pack shuffling all 10 laps. Taragno emerged with the win after Andrew Janus (HRT / Kosmic) crossed the line as the provisional winner with two others receiving penalties to promote Tarango to the pole position for the main event. Taragno led the first two laps before Brandon Ng (SB / Parolin) grabbed the lead for one lap. Janus then took control of the field and over the next couple of laps, was able to inch away as they battled for second behind them. The battle continued to the very end, and were unable to close back up with Janus taking the checkered flag by over one second for the provisional win. A track limit penalty dropped him off the top of the podium, finishing third and promoted Luis Martinez (Croc Promotion) to his second straight Challenge win. Hudson Hidalgo (Parolin) was moved to second after two track limit penalties to Mason Brody (Nash / Energy). Chase Riddering (Croc Promotion) was classified fourth with Brody back to fifth.

After a full day of racing at the new K1 Circuit, Round Four for the Challenge of the Americas will take place on Sunday.